Why Should I Care?
by PlumaWolf
Summary: *Based on the HxH 2011 anime When Ronnie is forced into scoring the applicants for the 287th Hunter Exam, this turn of events throws her into a whirlwind of adventure and chaos, forging new friendships and making new enemies, as well as discovering that perhaps she can learn to truly care about someone other than herself... *also on Wattpad under the same username*
1. Hey There

Hey there, everyone!

Anyways, I think I know what some of you are no doubt thinking. 'Ugh, it's yet ANOTHER HxH OC-insert THISISTHECANCEROFWATTPAD' and I must say that yes, some of those stories feature Mary-Sues with tortured pasts and crazy powers or whatever... HOWEVER there are some stories that are actually really good. SOME stories. I will do my best to keep my character from becoming a Mary-Sue, and hopefully some of you will like how I write. If that is not the case, then there is always the option of simply not reading this story.

Now on to the next thing I wanted to talk about. This OC will not be paired with anyone from the show. I may add another OC in as her love interest in the future... but that's not really anything I'm dead set on doing. Harmless flirting will be about as far as I'll go with this character in the romantic sense.

Just a few things to note:

- _Constructive_ criticism is appreciated

-Do NOT steal this story, and if you find anything elsewhere that looks almost identical to it, kindly let me know (this is also on wattpad under the same username, just to avoid some confusion)

-I do not own HxH

Thank you very much for choosing to read this story

Enjoy!


	2. Prologue

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The air was crisp as the sun crept up the horizon, awakening the birds in the treetops and illuminating the drops of dew that clung to long blades of grass. A small figure was curled into a ball on the ground, snoozing in the early morning. After a few minutes, a single beam of sunlight fell directly on the figure's eyelid, and her nose wrinkled. Sitting up, her long ash-blonde hair poofed out in different directions, and mint green eyes looked up at the piece of paper that had been stuck to her forehead with tree sap. She peered around briefly, as if looking for someone, before her face contorted and she plucked the paper from her forehead. There was something written on it. To anyone else, it might have looked like chicken scratch, but in actuality, it was a very poorly scribbled note. It read;

'If you should ever like to see me again, take the Exam and find me.' A little smiley face decorated the end of the sentence.

An irk mark appeared on the girl's temple, and she sucked in a large lungful of air and appeared to swell, rather like a blonde bullfrog.

"THAT BASTARD ABANDONED ME!"

A/N: Gahhhhhh that was such a short prologue... don't worry; the chapters ahead will be much longer than that.


	3. Chapter 1

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~10 years later~

The irritating buzz of a cellular device broke the silence in the small motel room, where it was almost completely dark, the only exception being a bright chink of light coming from between the drawn curtains. A lump under the covers groaned, shifting slightly. It sighed in contentment when the buzzing stopped. All was quiet. The figure under the covers was finally starting to drift back off to dreamland, where all was warm and peaceful and-

 _~Buzzzz...buzzzz...buzzzz~_

The lump growled and a hand shot out from under the comforter, knocking over several pillows and precariously stacked notebooks and pencils. The hand groped around on the surface of the nightstand (knocking over more notes) before alighting on the offending cell phone. The lump began to migrate up to the headboard, and a poofy mess of ash blonde hair emerged. The hand pressed a button and held the device up to the side of the mass of hair.

 _"What the hell made you decide to call me so early in the morning?"_ growled the figure in a deeper, but distinctly feminine voice. The person on the other end chuckled good-naturedly.

 _"Ronnie, it's nearly half past noon."_ 'Ronnie' harrumphed.

"Gimme a break, Gramps, I was up late last night. I had a lot of material to translate before getting it all back to the library; hell, I still have more left over. Anyway, why are you calling in the first place?"

 _"I just thought I ought to let you know that the Hunter Exams are coming up in the next few days..."_

"And?"

 _"...and we need someone to score the applicants throughout the course..."_

"And?"

 _"I've decided that you'll be perfect for the job."_ sitting up abruptly, Ronnie puffed up with indignation.

"What?! Why me?!"

 _"I thought I might put a little spin on things this year."_ Ronnie sighed, irritated.

"Don't you always put a spin on things? Your head isn't exactly screwed on properly." The person on the other end chortled.

 _"I'll be expecting you in two days' time- I think you'll do just fine. Oh, and don't think you can just play hooky and fly off to wherever- this is technically a summons from a superior; no ignoring it this time~. See you later~!"_

"No, wait-!" whoever was on the other end hung up, and Ronnie sighed, hanging her head.

"What a drag..."

Forty-eight hours later, Ronnie was pouting against the wall of the huge underground basement (although it looked more like a bomb shelter than anything) of a small inconspicuous bar, where the Hunter Exam's First Phase would begin. Ronnie looked around at all the Hunter Exam applicants and sighed exasperatedly. _I could be running from giant leopards in the jungle right now..._

Ronnie's outfit consisted of a cream tank top and grey cargo pants tucked into light brown knee length boots. A dull maroon scarf was wrapped loosely around her neck and bandages were wrapped around her forearms. Her mane of hair was now tied back into a high ponytail with her bangs framing her heart shaped face and a pair of goggles rested on her head like a headband. A long spear was strapped to her back, the sharp blade glinting in the light.

Ronnie bent down to grab her small backpack, which contained a booklet for scoring the applicants. Each applicant had a number tag, and next to the corresponding number in her booklet were several boxes where Ronnie could dock a number of points from an applicant's starting score of one hundred. However, she would be going undercover within the First Phase of the Exam, so she had received a fake number tag. Taking a moment to grimace at the hideous number pinned to her chest (# _157,_ of all numbers) she rummaged through her bag, finally digging out a pencil and jotting down the numbers of the new applicants walking out of the elevator.

 _#403...#404...#405..._ she snapped the booklet shut and sighed again, not really paying any attention to the hopefuls anymore. It had brought her a small amount of amusement at first to see their anxious and insecure faces, but had since lost its luster. In other words, Ronnie was bored. That is, until a scream rang through the air.

A man was kneeling on the ground, screaming in pain as his arms dissolved into... flower petals?

 _I guess I've seen everything now..._ thought Ronnie, watching with mild interest at the scene playing out in front of her. One of the other applicants, #44, chuckled.

"Oh, how peculiar... his arms seem to have become flower petals. No smoke and mirrors here," he addressed the screaming man. "Do take care. When you bump into someone, you really should apologize." Ronnie's head tilted to one side as she examined #44. He had bright red hair and extremely pale skin with narrow yellow eyes, akin to a snake's. However, the way he dressed was odder still, consisting of mainly white and bubblegum pink. His white shirt had a black spade and a black club on the front, and a red heart and a red diamond on the back. He looked rather like a clown, to be honest, and the fact that he had a teal teardrop painted underneath one eye and a pink star under the other supported that fact.

 _Weirdo..._ thought Ronnie, feeling mildly disturbed by the smug snakelike look on #44's face. Grinning wickedly, she slipped out her booklet and docked some points from his score just for being creepy.

It wasn't long after the creepy clown incident that an alarm rang out loudly from somewhere in the room, echoing and nearly giving poor Ronnie a heart attack. One of the far walls of the abnormally large and dungeon-esque basement began to rise up into the ceiling, disappearing from sight, all the while making a dull scraping and grinding noise that was not so nice on the eardrums.

After the cringe-worthy scraping had faded into silence, Ronnie looked up to the front, where the proctor for the First Phase stood in front of a tunnel the same height and width of the 'Waiting Room' as Ronnie so creatively dubbed it.

Approximately fifteen hours before any applicants had arrived, Ronnie had briefly met with all of the proctors for the Exam, and the only conclusion she had drawn from that meeting was that these poor applicants had no idea what they were getting into.

The first proctor, whose name Ronnie vaguely remembered started with an 'S', was very tall and thin with long and lanky arms and legs. He was wearing a bright violet suit and had an extremely neat mustache that was curled up at the ends.

"I apologize for the wait," he said, mustache wiggling up and down with every syllable. "The entry period for Hunter applicants has ended. The Hunter Exam will now begin!" many of the applicants straightened up at these words, determined looks appearing upon their faces. Ronnie just grinned and stretched her arms up to the ceiling, hearing satisfying pops from her back. _Most of those confident faces will be wiped clean off just an hour in..._ she thought, a smug look appearing on her face.

"A final caution," continued Mr. Mustache (as Ronnie decidedly called him in her head; she just couldn't remember his name for the life of her).

"If you are short on luck or ability, you could very well end up seriously injured or even dead. Those who accept the risks, please follow me. Otherwise, please exit via the elevator behind you."

Ronnie yawned, scratching an itch that had appeared on her jaw. No one moved toward the elevator.

"Very well. All 404 applicants will participate in Phase One." Snickering quietly, Ronnie watched as Mr. Mustache turned on his heel and began to walk down the tunnel, taking long strides. The applicants began to follow him, looking dreadfully confused. Then, little by little, Mr. Mustache began to pick up the pace, making everyone start to speed up, eventually beginning to run after the man in the purple suit.

"I neglected to introduce myself," announced Mr. Mustache. "I am Satotz, the Phase One examiner," _So_ that's _what he's called!_ thought Ronnie, mentally kicking herself for not remembering such a funny name.

"I shall lead you to the exam's Second Phase." Said Satotz.

"Second Phase?" asked someone near the front. Since Ronnie was somewhat in the midst of the crowd, she couldn't see who it was. "What about Phase One?"

"It has already commenced."

Murmurs of disbelief began to echo through the crowd.

"You must follow me to Phase Two. This is the Exam's First Phase."

"Follow you? That's it?" asked what sounded like the same person as before. As Ronnie ran along with the 'puny noobs', the smirk on her face threatened to widen at the edges. _Oh, it's a bit more complicated than that._

"Yes," answered Satotz. "I cannot tell you where or when you must arrive. You need to follow me."

Ronnie knew that they would be running for quite a while; no normal human could ever hope to make it to the end of the tunnel in time. After all, if you wanted to be a Hunter you couldn't just be some average Joe. And even after this First Phase, it was only an uphill climb from then on out. _So to speak._ She thought, inwardly grimacing at the unintended pun.

It had been two hours since the start of the Exam, and Ronnie had watched with enjoyment as many of the hopefuls dropped to the floor like flies. The remaining applicants had travelled over thirty kilometers, and only a few were still going strong. Ronnie, for instance, was still moving along with a spring in her step, but that was mainly due to the fact that she had much experience traveling on foot and sprinting away from large and dangerous beasts, each for an extended period of time. She also had perfected the art of darting through numerous booby traps in ancient temples and ruins, where she collected texts in very old and (almost) forgotten languages to translate and send to libraries all around the world.

Something pale flashed in the corner of her eye, and Ronnie looked around to spot a white haired kid cruising along on a yellow skateboard. Her face went blank.

 _...Why didn't I think of that?_

She looked away when one of the other applicants began to yell at the kid on the skateboard, calling him out for cheating. _It isn't technically cheating..._ she thought. _All the instructions said were to follow Satotz, they didn't say how._

Ronnie turned back toward the seemingly never-ending tunnel and sighed. _Just hold out until this tunnel ends Ronnie, and then you can run off and do whatever until the Second Phase._

Two more hours had passed, and Ronnie was now bored out of her mind. She had a sour look on her face as she watched the backs of those in front of her without really seeing them. She sighed. They had to have travelled around seventy kilometers by now. Even more applicants had fallen behind, and some were still running.

Focusing on the tunnel once more, she almost cried at what was before her in both relief and in anguish.

Hundreds upon hundreds of stairs rose up ahead of them, a sign that the journey was almost over, but at the same time... they were _stairs._ It wasn't the fact that it took more effort to climb stairs than run along a flat surface that scared her. It was the fact that if the people in front of her suddenly passed out or tripped, she would in turn trip over them, creating a domino effect and knocking everyone back down to the bottom while also severely wounding her pride.

 _And I can't just run up in front of everybody, that'll look too suspicious._ She thought, wiping sweat from her forehead with the corner of her scarf. Her foot alighted on the first step, and she started to bounce up them, taking two at a time. At that moment, Satotz began to speed up further, prancing up those stairs like they didn't exist. _Showoff..._ grumbled Ronnie internally.

Suddenly, a flash of white and a flash of green whizzed past her on both sides, and she was momentarily taken aback at the skateboard kid and some other twelve year old boy _racing each other up the stairs._

 _Well... if they're having fun..._ thought Ronnie, watching the two twelve year olds approach the bright daylight at the end of the tunnel at high speed. _I guess I'd better pick up the pace as well._ Not long after that thought, she raced upwards toward the light, coming in fourth. She tried not to let her pride take any damage, but the effort was in vain. Even if she had purposefully slowed herself down throughout the First Phase so as to not blow her cover.

 _To hell with keeping up my cover from now on,_ she thought, irritated. _I just have a little ways to go and I won't have to worry about pretending to be someone else._

It was a little over ten minutes when all of the remaining applicants had gotten to the top of the stairs, and Ronnie was now leaning idly against the entrance to the tunnel, jotting down notes in her booklet. She snickered quietly.

 _Hmm... who shall I dock points from this time? Eenie, meenie, miney, moe, I don't like your big fat nose!_ She thought, giggling and docking a few points from an older fellow with a rather large nose that was shaped almost like a square. She docked a few more points from some of the other applicants, although not all of them were for 'having a big nose' or 'breathing too loudly'. Ronnie had indeed been paying attention to how some of the older Exam applicants had been treating the first-timers, and there was a particularly nasty bunch who often liked to bully the younger ones into dropping out, and that group included the one who had that strange square nose.

Shoving her booklet into her backpack, Ronnie looked around at the thick fog surrounding the crowd of applicants. She could barely see anything more than twenty feet in front of her. Then, as if by some miracle, it began to clear, revealing an extensive swamp that stretched out for what was sure to be several kilometers. Ronnie felt jittery, the thought of freedom for the next couple hours or so (at least until the Second Phase began) filled her with a sense of approaching relief. _Pretending to be weak with noobs like these is such a drag...although..._ Ronnie turned to look at a select few, who had taken little to no damage to their scores. _Some of them are certainly cut from the right cloth._ She looked ahead at Satotz once more. _Just a little longer..._

A/N: See, I told you it would be longer than the prologue~


	4. Chapter 2

"The Numere Wetlands," announced Satotz, mustache wiggling. "Also known as 'Swindler's Swamp'. We must cross these wetlands to reach Phase Two of the exam." Ronnie briefly surveyed the deadpan expressions of those in front of her.

"This place is home to many bizarre animals, many of them being cunning, insatiable creatures who deceive humans and prey upon them. Be very careful. If you let them fool you, you're dead." Rolling her eyes, Ronnie huffed in impatience. _No shit._ She jumped slightly when a steel door at the entrance to the tunnel they had all just come out of began to close, cutting off one applicant who had just gotten to the top of the stairs. Satotz continued to speak.

"These creatures will use every trick in the book to fool their prey. An ecosystem in which creatures obtain food through deceit… Hence the name Swindlers Swamp." Satotz turned to face the wetlands ahead. "Stay very close to me so you won't be deceived." Some nodded in understanding; some looked a little confused, and only one decided to outright say that it would be a piece of cake.

"Don't let them fool you!" shouted someone from behind the tunnel entrance. A scuffed up man with a slightly bulb shaped nose limped into view, appearing to be dragging something heavy behind him.

"D-Don't fall for it… He's lying to you! He's an imposter!" the man shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at Satotz, who gave him a deadpan stare. Ronnie glanced over to meet Satotz's eye, quirking up an eyebrow. _Should I get rid of him?_ The man in the purple suit shook his head ever so slightly. Ronnie let out a slight huff.

"He isn't an examiner… I'm the real examiner." Ronnie was barely able to hold in a little grin threatening to appear. _I don't remember you from the meeting, and you obviously don't recognize me. I call bullshit~_

However, many of the naïve Hunter applicants decided to blindly believe this strange man they had only met thirty seconds ago.

"An impostor?"

"What's going on?"

"Who is he?"

"Look at this…" The stranger began to lug whatever it is he had with him into view, and it was revealed to be a sort of ape, with a grotesque version of Satotz's face, complete with sharp fangs. "It's a Man-Faced Ape, one of the creatures that dwell in the Numere Wetlands! Man-Faced Apes love the taste of fresh human flesh. However, their limbs are long and thin, so they're quite weak. That's why they disguise themselves as humans. They trick humans into following them into these wetlands, where they team up with other animals to kill and devour them. He intends to trap every single applicant!" the man shouted. The crowd began to hum with dialogue.

"Bastard…"

"He certainly doesn't walk like a human…"

 _That may be true,_ thought Ronnie. _But if you base someone's humanity on the way they walk, then we must have a lot of Sasquatches running around our cities and towns._ Images of all the teenagers Ronnie had seen slumping along with their shoulders hunched over flashed through her mind.

Suddenly, several playing cards sliced through the air, hitting the stranger in the chest, embedding in his heart and forehead and making him fall to the ground. At that same moment, several more were whipped at Satotz, who easily caught them between his fingers. A chuckle was heard over the confusion at what had just occurred. Ronnie looked over to see #44 grinning in that creepy snakelike way and shuffling a deck of pink playing cards.

"I see, I see… That settles it… You're the real one." More sounds of confusion echoed around the crowd, and everywhere Ronnie looked there were nonplussed faces. The supposedly dead Man-Faced Ape twitched awake, and upon spotting the large crowd of humans, it leapt away, shrieking and jabbering. #44 continued to speak.

"Examiners are Hunters selected by the committee to perform this duty without pay," Ronnie made a sour face. _Yeah, and we don't really have a choice now, do we?_ She thought, thinking about that crazy Chairman. _I should at least get some compensation money…_ "Any Hunter, bearing the title we seek, would have been able to block that attack."

"I shall take that as a compliment," said Satotz. "However, should you attack me again, for any reason, I will report you for turning on an examiner, and you will be immediately disqualified. Are we clear?"

"Sure." #44 said dismissively. A cloud of vultures descended upon the corpse of the stranger behind them (who turned out to actually be a Man-Faced Ape) and started to pick at his flesh. Satotz noticed everyone staring in disgusted fascination at the scene in front of them.

"He was attempting to confuse the applicants, to lure some of them away. You will be encountering such deception on a regular basis. I believe that a number of you were fooled into suspecting my identity?" A few of the applicants laughed in embarrassment, rubbing the backs of their necks.

"Do you understand? If you lose sight of me in the Numere Wetlands fog, you will never reach the exam's Second Phase. Do bear that in mind." Ronnie began to feel jittery again. Soon she would be able to drop her act and spy on people instead.

"Then let us be on our way. Please follow me." Satotz turned and started to walk at a very fast pace once again, forcing the applicants (plus Ronnie) to start running. As soon as the fog got thick enough to hide her exit, Ronnie would make her way as fast as she could to the site of the Second Phase before Satotz and find a good hiding place to spy on the rookies.

Gradually, the fog began to get thicker and thicker, eventually reaching the point where Ronnie could slip away undetected. Gathering strength in her legs, she sprinted off in the direction of the site of the Second Phase, taking long strides. Water splashed around her boots and mud splattered up her legs, but she kept going. Just barely making out a rather large ditch up ahead, she seized her spear and used it to pole vault over the opening, accidentally poking the sleeping predator inside in the eye. She shouted back a quick 'Sorry!' before darting off again.

Almost precisely a half an hour later, Ronnie skidded to a halt in front of the gates to the property on the Biska Forest Park. Panting heavily, she wiped her brow with the corner of her scarf and proceeded to knock loudly on the huge metal gates. They slid open before her and shut once she walked past them. She began to stroll leisurely up the gravel pathway to the fancy manor up ahead. Rows and rows of outdoor cooking stations were set up on the emerald green lawn, and the next two examiners were sitting in front of the big house up ahead. The woman lounged on a red and purple couch while the man just sat on the ground behind her, being so large that he was still quite visible

This phase happened to have two examiners instead of one. The man was large and a bit more than pudgy (putting it lightly) with dark brown hair and wearing a yellow t-shirt, while the woman was small and fit, with hair dyed a bright electric blue and tied up into several top knots on her head. She wore a bikini top with a mesh shirt over it, and daisy duke denim shorts. As Ronnie approached, the woman looked unimpressed by her overall scruffy look.

"Couldn't you have gotten here without getting all filthy?"

"I guess I could've, but where's the fun in that?" the woman rolled her eyes.

"Just go and keep a lookout in front of the gate." Ronnie crossed her arms.

"Don't tell me what to do. But I'll do it anyway. But not because you said so." She sauntered off back down the gravel path to climb up on top of the tall castle-like stone wall that surrounded the manor. She lay down on the sun-warmed shingles, and started to drift off into a light snooze.

One hour later, Ronnie awoke to the sounds of many footsteps and labored breathing. She sat up, rubbing her eyes blearily before darting behind one of the towers on either side of the gate to hide from the approaching applicants. She sighed in relief. _That was close… why does this weather suddenly have to be so perfect?_

Satotz appeared from between the trees, several of the applicants trailing behind him and looking quite exhausted. Ronnie watched them slump against trees to catch their breath, and a few stragglers still trickled in from the forest.

It was around twenty minutes later that #44 jogged into view, carrying an unconscious man over one shoulder and sporting his creepy smile. The white haired kid with the skateboard arrived three minutes later, and ten minutes after that saw what looked like the last two applicants arrive at the gates.

Leaning against the tower that she was hiding behind, Ronnie pulled out her booklet and marked off the applicants that hadn't made it. There were quite a few. Now there were only 148 remaining out of the 405- *ahem* _404_ that had previously entered into the First Stage. Satotz began to speak from down below.

"Excellent work, everyone," _why, thank you very much!_ Ronnie thought to herself, feeling very much impressed by her unfair _strange_ scoring strategy. "Phase Two of the exam will occur here, in the Biska Forest Park. So, I shall take my leave. Best of luck to all of you." And with those parting words, the mustached man strode back into the forest, taking those long and strange looking steps. The applicants watched him disappear into the trees, and only looked around when the huge gates began to open. Ronnie crouched down behind her tower, booklet and pencil at the ready. The woman examiner (Ronnie had forgotten the Second Phase examiners' names as well; she must have dozed off during introductions) called out to the Hunter applicants.

"Will all applicants who passed the First Phase please enter?" the woman's bright lime green eyes were wide and she had a friendly smile on her face. "I'm Menchi, the Second Phase examiner."

"And I'm Buhara, the other examiner." Said the large man behind the woman. Ronnie scratched her chin, nodding. _I'll be sure to remember their names next time we meet. Probably._

As the curious applicants began to file onto the front lawn of the manor house, Ronnie adjusted her position so as to not be spotted. She now had a clear view of the entire lawn. Once all of the applicants had entered, she settled down on the warm red shingles, lying on her belly and peering over the top of the wall. The sound of a stomach growling rumbled around the lawn, and Ronnie let out a tiny chuckle. Some of the applicants looked around, confused.

"You must be hungry." Stated Menchi, looking up at the large man behind her.

"I'm starving…" complained Buhara. Ronnie was reminded of her meager breakfast that morning, which had consisted of a single granola bar. Her stomach threatened to growl loudly. Menchi stood up, hands on her hips.

"There you have it. Phase Two will involve… cooking!" Many of the applicants looked stunned.

"Wait! Cooking? We're here to take the Hunter Exam!" shouted a large man with dyed blonde hair. _Oh, you'll find that being able to cook is quite useful in the field._ Thought Ronnie, shaking her head. _I would've starved to death within the first month of getting my license if I didn't know how to cook._ She thought of all the remote places she had travelled to previously. _They wouldn't even be able to find my body…_ Meanwhile, Menchi continued to speak.

"That's quite right. Your challenge for the Second Phase is to produce a dish that will satisfy our palate." She said, a bright smile etched upon her face.

"Why do we have to cook?!" someone shouted.

"That's because we are Gourmet Hunters." At Menchi's words, the crowd started to laugh. As Menchi's eyes narrowed in a scowl, Ronnie docked points from some who were laughing the loudest. _Even though I can see where they're coming from, Gourmet Hunting can actually be quite dangerous, as most of the best ingredients aren't found in the most accessible of places._ Ronnie pondered, tucking her pencil behind her ear and resting her chin on her hand.

"So, Gourmet Hunters, what are we supposed to make?" asked the man with dyed hair. The tag on his chest read #255.

"Buhara." At the call of his name, Buhara stood up and addressed the crowd.

"The required ingredient is pork." The crowd began to buzz again.

"Pork?"

"As in pig meat?" raising an eyebrow, Ronnie tilted her head to the side and considered this applicant's intelligence. _What other kind of meat is called pork, dumbass?_

"You're free to use meat from any species of Biska Forest pigs. You must use the cooking facilities here to prepare the pork, and you only pass if we both find it delicious." Announced Buhara, gesturing to the many cooking stations set up on the lawn.

"And we will evaluate more than just the taste. Don't underestimate the intricacies of cooking. Got it?" said Menchi. Ronnie's eyelids began to droop as a soft breeze played lazily across her face. _If I stay in this position too long, I think I might fall asleep again._ She blinked her eyes rapidly, focusing on the scene in front of her once more.

"When we've both eaten our fill, the exam will end."

"We get it, we get it. Let's just start." Said #255.

"Then, the exam's Second Phase…" Buhara smacked his large belly, emitting a gong-like noise. "begins now!" All of the applicants dashed off in a stampede back toward the gates, darting into the forest. Ronnie ducked her head as they passed and finally flopped over on her back. She stared up at the fluffy white clouds cruising by before a streak of realization hit her. _Oh, they are too cruel…_ she thought, the two examiners' happy smiles floating to the forefront of her mind.


	5. Chapter 3

As Ronnie slipped back into a doze, screams from the forest made her twitch slightly. A small smirk crept onto her face. _It appears they've found the pigs._ There was only one species of pig that lived in the Biska Forest Park, and they just so happened to be enormous and carnivorous. Well past twice the size of a grown man, they had thick skin and a bad attitude, charging at anything they considered a threat. This thought kept a tiny smile on Ronnie's face as she heard the screams echo through the trees. _Sounds like they're having fun._ However, the screaming soon stopped, and Ronnie sat up, eyebrows furrowed.

The rumbling of many footsteps reached her ears and she quickly dived back into her hiding spot as the Hunter applicants emerged, each one (somehow) carrying an enormous pig carcass on their shoulders. _It also seems that they have found their weak spot._ A Biska Forest pig had only a few weak spots. The mouth, the eyes, and perhaps the most easily accessible, the forehead. Usually, their huge snout would protect it from harm, but if one were to strike from above, they would go down in one hit.

Once they arrived back at the manor, each applicant claimed a cooking station and started to set up. Only three minutes in, Ronnie realized something. _Why are they all roasting their pigs?_ Each and every pig that her eyes landed on was being turned carefully on a spit. No one had done anything different than the others. Her eyebrow twitched.

Finally, #255, the first applicant to finish preparing his 'dish' (which happened to be just a giant roasted pig, no seasoning or anything) set it down in front of Menchi and Buhara.

"Now eat the pig and send me to the next phase." He said confidently. Menchi, disinterested, merely sat back.

"Okay, it's evaluation time. Taste testing." Buhara dug in, and shortly thereafter held up a small circular sign with a red circle on it.

"Tastes good!" Menchi on the other hand, held up a sign with a blue X on it without even taking a bite.

"It's overcooked. The tough texture ruins the flavor of the meat."

"What? You haven't even tried it!"

"It's plain as day." The applicant growled.

"Damn it…"

One after the other, each applicant was passed by Buhara, but failed by Menchi without her even taking a single bite. Ronnie's wide eyes kept staring at the steadily growing pile of pig bones behind Buhara.

"Hey!" called Menchi, waving her sign in the air in agitation. "Can't anyone out there satisfy me?" _That totally doesn't sound inappropriate._ Thought Ronnie. The woman kept failing all of the applicants coming her way when finally, a rather interesting arrangement arrived on the table in front of her. It was a roasted pig, but it was cut into slices and had fruits and lettuce in between them. Menchi raised an eyebrow and took out her fork, pulling away a small chunk of meat. She chewed on it for exactly one second before she flipped the table over in anger.

"Yuck!" the blonde boy who had presented his meal was apparently dumbfounded.

"Appearance is important, but only if it also tastes good. You're no better than #403!" she shouted, gesturing back at one of the other applicants. After that last applicant had walked away with a dejected look on his face, Buhara patted his stomach.

"That was so much food, I'm stuffed!" Menchi still had a grumpy look on her face.

"Yeah, I'm stuffed too. Therefore, no one passes. We're finished here!" Ronnie groaned, thumping her head down on the rooftop. _In the two days that I've known her, Menchi doesn't seem like the type that can be pleased by even the best chef in the country…_ she thought. When she looked up, some of the applicants had started to shout at Menchi.

"Zero people passed?"

"Are you serious?"

"Does she really mean it?"

"The exam is over?"

"This isn't funny!"

A crashing noise made Ronnie focus on #255, the first to fail. He had smashed his cooking station with his fist.

"I won't accept it… I absolutely refuse to accept this!" he shouted. Ronnie shrugged her shoulders. _Suck it up and deal with it, you big baby. There's always next year._

"In the end, you've still failed."

"Stop screwing around!" yelled #255. "You asked for pork, so we risked our lives to-" Menchi cut him off before he could finish.

"I said to prepare the pork in a manner we both found delicious. None of you made anything remotely delicious," _That's going a bit far, I'm sure some were at least adequate… but perhaps I don't have the right to say that. I'll eat almost anything._ Thought Ronnie. "You all did almost the same thing. There was no effort made. Just when I thought someone actually tried, they only changed the appearance. No one attempted to emphasize the flavor. I'm positive that none of you took cooking seriously!" Ronnie then watched as one of the applicants boldly stated that 'Pork dishes are all the same.' and then got clobbered by Menchi, who seemed to have lost her mind, before getting distracted by a butterfly fluttering around nearby.

After her rant, Menchi sat down heavily on the couch she had been lounging on previously.

"In other words, you people don't have the guts to try anything new." #255 started to shout at her again.

"Shut up! I'm not trying to become a cook or a gourmet, I want to be a Hunter!" the applicants behind him cheered at his words as he continued. "My goal is to become a Black List Hunter. I refuse to let a mere Gourmet Hunter decide my fate!"

"Too bad you got stuck with a mere Gourmet Hunter as an examiner… Better luck next year?" needled Menchi, looking away with her nose in the air. #255 turned bright red with rage and lunged at her. Ronnie's eyes crossed as the butterfly landed on her nose, serenely opening and closing its wings. She jumped and the butterfly glided away as #255 was smacked away from Menchi so hard that he flew across the lawn, bounced off of the bit of wall very close to where Ronnie was hiding, and fell to the ground.

"Buhara, don't interfere." Said Menchi, her eyes closed.

"Well, if I hadn't interfered, you'd have killed him, right?" replied Buhara, looking down at Menchi.

"Probably," She said, standing up with four very large kitchen knives clutched loosely in her hands. Menchi started to approach the applicants, who looked unnerved. "Let me clarify this. We frequently venture into the dens of ferocious beasts, searching for ingredients. Every Hunter knows some form of martial art," Menchi tossed all four knives into the air and began to juggle them. "You lack focus and the willingness to experiment," the knives stopped spinning in the air and the woman caught them all in her left hand. "That alone disqualifies you from becoming Hunters!" with those words, everyone went quiet. Then a voice boomed from loud speakers high above and Ronnie grimaced at the familiar tone…

 _"That said, it would be excessive to fail every single applicant."_ Everyone looked up in unison as an airship came into view from behind the manor house, the symbol of the Hunter Association emblazoned on it's side. Then, quite suddenly, something white descended from the airship, freefalling until it hit the ground with a boom, sending rocks and dust in all directions. When the dust settled, an old man in white robes could be seen walking calmly away from the crater he had created. His head was bald, except for a ponytail located at the back of his head, and his eyebrows and beard were large and bushy. The old man's earlobes had two teal piercings in each. Ronnie recognized the old man. He was the one to drag her into scoring for the exam, after all. A few murmurs could be heard from the crowd.

"Who is that old geezer?" Menchi replied to the question in an official sounding tone.

"The Chairman of the Selection Committee. He's in charge of the Hunter Exam, Chairman Netero."

"Well, I work behind the scenes," Said Netero, breezily. "I only take action when there's an issue, like now. So, Menchi…"

"Yes sir."

"You failed all of the applicants because you disapproved of their reluctance to try new things?" he asked, his eyes briefly drifting down to the Gourmet Hunter's chest before catching himself and looking her in the eye again. _Weirdo…_ thought Ronnie. _How did he ever manage to talk me into this?_

"No, sir… I lost my cool when one of the candidates insulted Gourmet Hunters, and I made the exam harder than necessary."

"In other words," started Netero, still with a jovial look on his face. "you're aware that this exam was unacceptable."

"Yes, sir. When cooking is involved, I lose control," _You don't think?_ Ronnie mentally commented, rolling her eyes. "I'm unqualified to be an examiner. I will resign as examiner, so please redo the Second Phase!" Ronnie's eyebrows shot into her hairline. _We can resign as examiners?! How come no one ever told me?!_

Netero hummed in thought. "But it would be difficult to find another examiner on such short notice." Menchi bowed to Netero.

"I apologize…" Netero smiled wider.

"Very well. How about this? I'd like you to continue serving as an examiner. But you must also participate in the new test you propose. Is that acceptable? I'm certain that will help the applicants to accept the results." Menchi began to smile again.

"That's true… then the new challenge will be boiled eggs!" Even Ronnie raised an inquisitive eyebrow at this new proposal. Menchi continued to speak. "Chairman, can you take us to Mt. Split-in-Half in your airship?" she pointed up to the airship that had begun to descend from the sky.

"Mt. Split-in-Half?" he asked, and then smiled again. "I see what you're doing. Certainly, I can." It took Ronnie a few seconds to wrack her brain for the name 'Mt. Split-in-Half, and then it clicked. She had read about it in some random textbook on geography, and it finally dawned on her at what Menchi was getting at. _Oh… I see what's going on now._

The Hunter applicants had all filed onto the airship, and now Ronnie sneaked quietly aboard as well, slipping in just as the door shut. Everyone else was up near the front, but Ronnie hung back and sat down against the wall and out of sight, closing her eyes.

Half an hour later, the airship began to descend, and Ronnie could see an enormous hill of rock with a large split down its middle out the window. The airship landed on the very top of Mt. Split-in-Half, and Ronnie whipped her head around in panic to search for a hiding place before squashing herself into a tiny closet. Not ten seconds later did the Hunter applicants walk past, making Ronnie let out an inaudible sigh of relief. The door to the outside opened, and everyone filed out of the airship. When the last set of footsteps disappeared outside, Ronnie kicked the closet door open and inhaled fresh air. The cramped closet had quickly heated up while she had occupied it, therefore making it difficult to breathe properly.

Taking out her booklet and pencil, Ronnie pressed her face to the window to try and see how the applicants were doing. When Menchi had asked Chairman Netero to take them all to Mt. Split-in-Half, it had taken a second for Ronnie to realize why they had come here. Menchi planned on making the applicants steal Spider Eagle eggs. Spider Eagles build their webs in deep ravines and hung their eggs from them to make it difficult for predators to obtain. The applicants had to jump off of the cliff, hang from the upper layers of webs, wait for just the right moment, and then drop, snagging an egg and using a strong updraft to get back up to the top of the ravine.

From inside the ship, Ronnie saw Menchi dive off the edge of the ravine. Thirty seconds passed, and then Menchi reappeared, clutching a large egg in her hands and supported by the strong updraft. The woman gracefully landed on the edge of the ravine and proudly held up the egg she had caught. Focusing on the applicants once again, Ronnie looked over just in time to spot four of them leap off in unison. Most of the rest looked momentarily shocked, then some finally gathered up their guts and jumped as well. They disappeared into the ravine, and long moments ticked by before they reappeared, all clutching eggs.

 _Hmm. There appear to be a bit fewer coming up that went down… I guess someone didn't have any patience to spare._ Ronnie counted the number tags and crossed out those who did not reappear. The applicants who had remained on solid ground looked down in shame. _Aww, is someone scared of falling to their death?_ Thought Ronnie, giggling as she crossed out their numbers.

Meanwhile, the eggs were all placed in a large metal bowl and put over a fire to boil. Once they were finished, all the applicants who had caught an egg feasted upon them in the light of the setting sun, their faces lighting up at the discovery of something so delicious. Ronnie's stomach growled as she watched. She pouted and decided to take points off from some of the applicants who looked to be enjoying their eggs the most. As Ronnie looked down at her booklet, she saw that only forty-two applicants remained.


	6. Chapter 4

When the applicants began to walk toward the airship once more to travel to the Third Phase, Ronnie stuffed herself in the closet again to wait until the coast was clear. Then, when everything had gone quiet, she emerged and shoved her hands in her pockets, entering the cozy lounge where the examiners would be meeting later. Slumping down on one of the couches, she sighed, unstrapped her spear from her back, took off her backpack and struggled out of her boots. She then propped up her feet on a low coffee table and closed her eyes. Ten minutes later, the door opened again, and three sets of footsteps entered. Without opening her eyes, Ronnie raised a hand in greeting.

"Yo."

Menchi's voice replied almost immediately.

"What are you doing just sitting there?! I thought you were supposed to be keeping an eye on the applicants!" Ronnie sat up and turned to face the blue-haired woman.

"I am, but that's while the exam is going on. Otherwise, I get to do whatever the hell I want." Buhara laughed a little and Satotz gave a small chuckle. Menchi huffed and sat down beside her while Buhara and Satotz each took one of the small adjacent couches. A few minutes were passed with the three other examiners making small talk while Ronnie pulled a small notebook out of her bag and began to scribble furiously in it, occasionally referencing a sheet of paper with strange symbols on it. As she chewed on the end of her pencil in thought, the door to the lounge opened, and in stepped the Chairman's personal secretary, known as simply 'Beans'. He pushed in a cart laden with platters of food, and Ronnie almost immediately tossed her notebook and pencil aside to fall upon her dinner. Menchi gave her an unimpressed look at her fast-paced and rather sloppy eating habits before picking up her own plate and piling various food items onto its surface. Minutes passed in silence as the company enjoyed their dinner. Ronnie had finished eating first and sat back, letting out a contented sigh.

"Hey, how many applicants do you expect to make it?" inquired Menchi, looking around at the other three.

"You mean pass the exam?" asked Buhara.

"Yep. This year, we have an impressive group. Though I did fail them all at one point…"

"But doesn't it depend on what the upcoming phases consist of?"

"That's true…" Menchi pondered. "But didn't you notice it? One of them had this whole aura thing going on. What do you think, Satotz?" she turned to the mustached man.

"Oh, yes. I like the rookies this year."

"Ha! So you agree? I think #294 has a good shot." Ronnie nodded at her words.

"I gotta agree with you on that. He has some fine ass eyebrows." Menchi raised a brow at her words.

"I'm partial to #99." Said Satotz. Ronnie tilted her head to the side, remembering the white haired kid that was on the skateboard during the First Phase.

"He looks like a selfish, spoiled brat," commented Menchi. "What do you think, Buhara?"

"Well… he isn't a rookie, but #44 is the one I favor," Ronnie shuddered at the thought of the creepy clown guy. "I'm sure you noticed, but when #255 was throwing a fit, it was #44 who was really on the verge of killing someone."

"Yeah, his whole aura just screams 'psychotic perverted serial killer'." Said Ronnie, propping a foot up on the table. Menchi nodded.

"I did notice that, of course. He could barely restrain himself from tearing off our heads. But didn't you realize? He was already that way from the first moment we appeared."

"Really?" asked Buhara, a look of mild surprise on his face.

"Yeah, that's the real reason I was so edgy. He kept challenging me." Ronnie laughed.

"Good thing I wasn't in the line of fire, then!" Menchi scowled at her words before Satotz began to speak.

"I had a similar experience. He should be carefully monitored," Satotz sent a brief and pointed look at Ronnie, who raised her hands in a gesture of surrender. He continued shortly thereafter. "Though it pains me to admit this, we are birds of a feather with him. However, his affinity for darkness is far stronger. As Hunters, we are continually seeking out rivals. Ultimately, the Hunter Exam is but a place to find opponents worthy of respect. And every once in a while, we encounter someone who hits the floor running when we try to slow things down. An oddball of sorts." Everyone went quiet after those ominous words. Ronnie shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

Ronnie awoke the next morning to the sound of Beans' voice over the intercom.

 _"I apologize for the long wait. The airship will soon arrive at its destination."_ the intercom cut off, and Ronnie sat up, wiping away the extremely attractive trail of drool from the corner of her mouth. Rubbing her eyes with one fist, she grabbed her boots in her other hand and pulled them on, tucking her pants into them before retying her ponytail and readjusting the goggles on the top of her head. She gathered up her notebook and pencil and shoved them both into her bag, then grabbed her spear and strapped it to her back. Lightly patting her cheeks to wake herself up to at least some degree, she exited the lounge, checking left and right to see if the coast was clear, and then strolled down the hall with her hands in her pockets. Out the window, a tall stone tower rose from the earth, located near the seaside. It was known as Trick Tower, and it just so happened to be a high-security prison.

A light impact shuddered through the floor of the aircraft, signaling that it had landed on the very top. Footsteps could be heard tapping down the corridor at both ends, and a panic filled Ronnie decided to stuff herself into that god-forsaken closet _again_.

 _Maybe this was a bad idea._ She thought, trying to inhale a deep breath in what little space she had. Ronnie strained her ears to listen to the last of the footsteps fade out the door and slipped out of the closet after they had vanished. The airship began to take off once more, and she waited by the exit door. The airship began to move away from the tower and Ronnie scratched her chin. _Umm… am I supposed to jump?_ She opened up the exit door and looked down. The height was slightly daunting as she gazed at the trees below. She prepared herself to jump out. _YOLO!_

Ronnie leapt out of the door and began to free-fall through the air, limbs spread wide before gripping her spear and impaling the side of a tree at the last moment. The wooden shaft had been reinforced with a special polymer, making a mixture that was much stronger than either ingredient if they were alone. Ronnie made four complete swings around her makeshift gymnastics bar before she began to lose momentum and simply hung there before ripping her spear out of the tree and dropping to the ground. After a few seconds, she clutched her head and stumbled into a nearby tree. _Dizzy…_ she blinked, getting shakily to her feet again before making her way to the entrance of Trick Tower and banging on the front door.

"HEY! It's Ronnie; lemme in!" The door opened to reveal a tall bald man who simply looked at her with disinterest before gesturing to follow him. She did so, and was eventually led to a dark room with many monitors lining the far wall in front of a desk. A small man with a purple mohawk and round glasses sat in the single desk chair, nibbling on crackers and gazing at the screens. Ronnie sat down on the desk and the man acknowledged her by glancing briefly in her direction from behind his large glasses.

"Please remove yourself from the desk." Heaving a sigh, Ronnie started to swing her legs back and forth.

"But there's only one chair in here and it just so happens to be occupied."

"I'm sure you can be a big girl and suck it up."

"That implies that I'm not already an adult…" she pouted, sliding off of the desk and crossing her arms. The Third Phase examiner chuckled, biting into another cracker.

It had only been an hour and Ronnie was already bored out of her mind. She had been staring at the monitor displaying the top of the tower, watching as applicants dropped into hidden trap doors. She blinked slowly, sitting cross-legged on the ground and watching the remaining applicants on the roof (around twenty) tap on the floor beneath them, searching for an entrance. The others had already disappeared below and made it inside.

Ronnie had her booklet open in front of her, at least twelve five by five tic-tac-toe games present in the margins of the pages. She sighed loudly, leaning back and slumping on the ground to lie on her back. Ronnie lifted her head to look back at the small man facing the monitors.

"How do you do this all day?" the sound of crackers being munched on for the millionth time met her ears.

"I have a much longer attention span than you do." Ronnie's head dropped back down to rest on the ground.

"Perhaps we can mess with this group a little." Ronnie lifted her head again to see Lippo (Ronnie had asked his name after five minutes of dead silence) gesturing at one monitor in particular with a sly grin on his face. They had obviously just fallen through the floor, and were now dusting themselves off after impact. Lippo switched on the audio for that room and Ronnie sat up, interest peaked.

The figures on the screen seemed to be surprised that they had all landed in the same room. Two of them were no older than twelve. One was the white haired kid, who wore a simple dark blue long-sleeved shirt underneath a white v-neck t-shirt and grey shorts, the other had black spiky hair and wore a green shirt and a pair of matching green shorts, along with green boots. A fishing pole stuck up from his yellow backpack. The other two were older. One of them looked to be around his mid-teens, with grey eyes and bright blonde hair. He wore a sort of blue tabard with red designs on it, and a plain white shirt and pair of pants underneath. The fourth looked like he was in his late twenties, and had black spiky hair (much shorter than Green Boy's) and a pair of spectacles perched on the end of his nose. He wore a white collared shirt with dark blue slacks and carried a briefcase decorated with red and black diamond patterns.

Ronnie watched as the white-haired kid and Green Boy grinned at each other.

 _"That was quite a brief farewell."_ Remarked Blondie, getting up from the floor.

 _"Oh, so all the doors led to the same room…"_ said Glasses, looking disgruntled as he lifted his face up from the floor. He had most obviously landed directly on it, and Ronnie could only wonder how his glasses weren't broken. After those words, Green Boy began to walk up to the front of the room, where a cylindrical table stood with five metal bracelets on the surface. A sign was on the wall behind it. He began to recite what was written.

 _"'The five of you must allow the will of the majority to reach the goal.'"_

 _"Five of us?"_

 _"Look… There are five stopwatches."_ Green Boy picked up one of the bracelets. Ronnie squinted at the screen to see what was on them, but the resolution wasn't good enough. She looked back up at the screen as the white haired kid began to speak.

 _"There's an O and an X button."_

 _"Could it be that we won't be able to leave this room until another person drops in?"_ asked Blondie as they all fixed a bracelet to their wrists. Ronnie was so engrossed in the computer screen that she didn't notice Lippo turn on the microphone beside her.

"That is correct!" Lippo had spoken so suddenly that Ronnie jumped, letting out a small shriek and falling off of his desk.

 _"Who is that?"_ asked Glasses, looking around.

"My name is Lippo. I am the prison warden here, as well as the Third Phase examiner."

 _"Prison warden?"_ Ronnie got up from her fallen position, dusting off her pants.

"Multiple routes through this tower have been prepared," Lippo explained, a smug grin on his face. "You have chosen the path of majority rule. Cooperation will be key if you wish to clear this phase of the exam. One person's selfish behavior can derail the entire group. And you can't start until you have five members. Best of luck, gentlemen!" Lippo almost turned off the microphone but Ronnie quickly intervened.

"Hey hey hey, I wanna say something!" Lippo gave her a dry look before gesturing to continue.

"Um, do I just talk like normal or something, cause I don't see any sort of device…"

"Yes, speak normally."

"Alright. Um, yo!" the four in the room looked at the speaker with strange looks on their faces. Green Boy smiled and waved at the speaker. "I just wanted you to know that, um… uh… like it most likely says on your bracelets, you have a time limit of seventy two hours to get to the bottom of the tower, and some paths are longer than others, so choose wisely. Oh, and it would be in your best interest to, y'know, not kill each other. Unless you wanna fail the exam, then kill each other all you like. But ninety seven percent of Hunter applicants do want to pass, so… play nice. I, uh, think that's all I have to say… anyways, I'll be watching your every move! Bye!" when she stopped speaking, Lippo turned off the microphone and audio with the push of a button.

Ronnie sat back down on the floor and started up yet another tic-tac-toe game as Lippo turned his chair around to face the door. Putting two fingers in his mouth, he let out a sharp whistle and the door opened, revealing several people in hooded prisoner uniforms with heavy handcuffs on their wrists. Ronnie paid them no mind as they entered and stopped before Lippo, their faces shadowed in their hoods.

"Did you need something, warden?" asked one. Lippo grinned.

"The test begins now. Take your assigned positions." He ordered. The prisoners nodded. Ronnie crossed out a line of Os with a swift swipe of her pencil.

 **Gah, I'm not too thrilled about this particular phase of the exam, since Ronnie really doesn't really have much to do... so I guess I'll just go ahead and post the next few chapters to get out of the boring part :P**


	7. Chapter 5

Ronnie was no longer taking any pleasure from watching the exam applicants make their way down Trick Tower, and now sat staring into space, her chin in her palm. It had been a few hours since she had covered her pages in tic-tac-toe games.

"How am I going to make it through just sitting here for two and a half days?" she murmured, blinking slowly. Lippo sighed. She had been saying things of a similar nature for the past… well… ever.

The ash blonde's eyes flicked up to the monitors on the wall and opened and shut her stinging eyes several times.

Another few hours passed, the minutes seeming to crawl along like slugs. Ronnie would occasionally dock a few points from some of the applicants, but that hardly brought her any sense of satisfaction anymore. A couple of them had already cleared the tower and were waiting on the bottom floor. Ronnie's eyes drooped and she slumped against the wall, breathing evenly in sleep.

The woman awoke to find that she had slept for so long that the sun had already set, according to the clock on the wall. Since the start of the Third Phase, it had already been around sixteen hours. Ronnie groaned and let her head lightly smack the wall she was resting on. Fifty-six more hours to go.

More than two days had passed, and Ronnie was now watching the clock on the wall with such an intense expression that one would assume that it would quickly catch fire. Ninety minutes until the Third Phase would end.

"Ronnie." Her head turned to the small man in the desk chair.

"What?"

"You should probably start making your way over to the site of the Fourth Phase; it would be better to sneak away now rather than risk being spotted later." Said Lippo. Ronnie stood up, brushing off her pants.

"Alright. I guess I'll see you later." Lippo simply waved her away.

Ronnie was momentarily blinded when she first stepped out into the bright sunlight. She blinked rapidly to regain her vision and made her way toward the docks, where a single boat floated in the water. An orange haired woman with a headset was sitting on one of the benches inside, her chin in her palm.

"Hey, the Fourth Phase is taking place on Zevil Island, right?" asked Ronnie. The orange haired woman perked up immediately.

"Oh, you must be Ronnie! The Chairman let me know that you would ask for a ride to Zevil Island before the remaining applicants got here." Ronnie nodded.

"Yeah, sure. I need to get there pretty quick, the time limit's down to around an hour left." The orange haired woman nodded.

"We can get you there in around fifteen minutes going top speed; just hold on tight and you'll be just fine."

With shaky legs and jitters wracking her body, Ronnie climbed out of the boat from hell and stepped onto Zevil Island. _Who knew a boat that size could go that fast?_ She thought, watching with a sour look as it shrank farther and farther away, heading back in the direction of Trick Tower. Ronnie looked back at the lush trees behind her. _Welp, I guess I've gotta find another hiding spot._ She headed into the forest, listening to the chirps of small birds in the trees, flitting in and out of sight.

The terrain began to rise steadily until Ronnie looked up to find a ridge of rock. A small niche could just barely be seen in between two boulders about halfway up, so Ronnie dug her fingers into the rock and began to climb towards it. When she reached the small alcove, she squeezed inside just as the horn of the boat sounded out from the shore. The remaining applicants had arrived. Ronnie stepped back a little and found that she did not bump into anything. Looking behind her, what she had assumed to be just a crack in the rock was actually a tiny cave, the size of a small walk in closet. She sat down in the dim light, staring out at the small chink of the outside visible from the crack in the rock.

Ronnie took note of how many people she could see on the boat from her vantage point. Twenty-four applicants were left. She could just barely see the boat from inside her hideout, and spotted #44 begin to walk into the forest. Each of the applicants would walk onto the island one by one in the order that they had cleared Trick Tower. Ronnie knew that each of them had been given another hunter to hunt down and steal their tag by the end of the week while avoiding getting caught by their own hunter. Their target's tag was worth three points, as well as their own. They had to have six points by the end of the week. Ronnie would patrol in secret to monitor their conditions and take points off if necessary. A sour look was soon pulled onto Ronnie's face. _I've had to look after these noobs since the beginning… they're starting to get boring._

She watched idly as more applicants walked into the forest, until in the end none remained on the boat. Ronnie wondered vaguely whether or not she should jump suddenly out of a bush to freak some of the younger ones out, but quickly decided against it. _There's a reason they've gotten this far… I don't want any headaches this week._ The woman leaned against the rock and dug through her small backpack, pulling out one of her notebooks and a pencil. She opened it up to a place near the middle and began to scribble the date on the page in neat (albeit cramped) handwriting. A little grin found its way onto her face. _Let's make it look like a crappy reality television show._ Pencil touching the paper, she began to write.

 _DAY 1, ENTRY 1_

 _Today is the beginning of the Fourth Phase of the exam, and already I feel that some of the applicants might be out of my league…_ _most of them aren't, but whatever._ _I am worried that I may accidentally_ _or not so accidentally_ _reveal my presence to some of the applicants. Some of them seem highly perceptive, and might even find me hiding and_ _stalking_ _monitoring them. Even though I am not a participant, they may feel negative emotions toward me for not revealing my presence like the other examiners -_ _no shit._ _Some of them might even decide to take hostile action,_ _Oh, the horror~_ _especially #44. He does not seem to be the most stable of fellows._ _Really? I hadn't noticed._ _His overall impression does not give me any positive feelings._ _It might be the fact that he's dressed like a clown and totally looks like a rapist._ _I will begin my patrol soon._ _Right after I take a piss._ _Things seem to have settled outside._

 _DAY 1, ENTRY 2_

 _Nothing much has happened today, but I did see one of the applicants acquire his target's tag already. He used a bow and an arrow tipped in paralytic poison to paralyze a man with a red nose._ _Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer~_ _He carried out his mission quickly and effectively. I have not taken points from his score._ _Rudolph, on the other hand…_ _After I had witnessed this, I spotted the same boy that I had spoken to in Trick Tower._ _Yes, the one with all the green clothes. I dub thee Green Boy!_ _He was practicing with a fishing rod to catch apples. Eventually, he decided that still objects would not do, so he tried catching birds near the river._ _He does know that fishing rods are for FISH, right? Hence the name._

 _Unfortunately, he was concentrating so hard on target practice that he did not notice the person behind him, the one who had his number tag as his target. The day passed quickly, and I am now writing in the light of the setting sun._ _It's getting damned cold, I wish I could light a fire._ _I will write more in the morning, but I don't know if someone will have discovered me in the night… the pressure is mounting._ _When you pretend to be serious and you start cracking up._

 _DAY 3, ENTRY 1_

 _The sun has risen. No one has found my hiding spot yet, and I will patrol the entire island today._ _And stalk more people._ _I have little food in my bag, so I suppose I will have to look for something sufficient._ _I'm running low on chocolate bars…_

 _DAY 3, ENTRY 2_

 _I saw the boy at the river again. He's managed to start catching birds with his fishing rod as they swoop down to catch fish from the water._ _HOW IS HE DOING THAT._ _Anyway, while on my patrol, I spotted #44. He was sitting against a tree in the middle of a small clearing and had a bloody gash on his shoulder, the Hemotropic Butterflies starting to gather around him. Even so, he looks unperturbed_ _and still creepy as hell._ _I left the area quickly. Soon after, I found the dead corpse of an applicant, #80. She had a needle pierced through her eye. It must have been the doing of another of the applicants, but her tag wasn't missing. She must not have been their target. As I_ _sneaked around_ _patrolled the island, the man with the glasses and the boy with blonde hair seemed to have made an alliance. They now travel together._

 _Later in the day, I had decided to revisit the place where #44 had been. He was still there, but this time, a man with a spear decided to challenge him to a fight. The man with the spear was already dying, so #44 would not fight him._ _Picky bastard._ _The dying man tried to attack_ _the rapist clown_ _#44, but was killed when many needles struck him in the face and throat. Another applicant appeared. He was dressed in a green outfit with puffy shoulders_ _just like what minstrels wore_ _and had many needles on his person._ _They were literally coming out his ears. No joke._ _He was also very tall, with a shaved head and a purple mohawk, like the Third Phase's examiner. He eventually removed the needles, and in the end turned out to be an entirely different person. I decided to move on. I could not stay there for long._

 _DAY 3, ENTRY 3_

 _I have witnessed something truly unnerving. My heart felt like it would stop when I felt the pure bloodlust that was coming from #44_ _pff yeah right… alright I admit, I was a little nervous that he would find me_ _. It lasted all throughout the night, and now I do not know if I can sleep…_ _jk I'm totally gonna sleep like a rock._

 _DAY 4, ENTRY 1_

 _I returned earlier to where #44 had been standing last night, bloodlust practically oozing out of his pores. When I had gotten there, he hadn't moved an inch._ _He had a rap-y look on his face, too._ _After a few minutes more of just standing there, he started to walk off like a zombie._ _Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he started groaning 'Braaaaiiiinssss'…_ _I decided to avoid him and get back to my patrol._

 _DAY 5, ENTRY 1_

 _Today I came across that white haired boy in the woods. He had someone tailing him, but it seemed to be the case that he already knew about him. A couple of times, he told his stalker to reveal himself, but was met with silence each time. However, the stalker appeared before him not long after #99 (the white haired boy) called for him to come out when he began to go to him instead of waiting. Well, technically, he only came out after his two brothers showed up. They seemed to be disappointed in him for not getting #99's tag yet._ _They all had eye makeup; how ridiculous is that?_

 _Soon after his brothers arrived, the stalker seemed to grow more confident_ _(pansy)_ _and managed to kick #99 in the stomach. #99 didn't seem to be affected at all as he flew back several feet. He just got right back up. There was something unusual with this boy. He had obviously been through intense training, wherever he'd come from._ _I remember a lot of name-calling during training back when I was little… always 'Brat' this and 'Idiot' that. Pff. That bum. I swear he looked just like a hobo._ _The fight was over in a flash. #99 appeared behind one of the brothers and took him as a hostage to get their tags. Apparently, one of their tags was his target, so he took that one and flung the other two into the trees. I left the area shortly thereafter. Patrolling this island is starting to get to me…_ _Mostly because it's so damn boring now._

 _DAY 7, ENTRY 1_

 _This will be my last day on the island… and I must say, I think I will_ _totally not_ _miss it. The birds chirping in the trees… the gentle waves against the shore…_ _the screams of failed applicants echoing through the wild…_ _This is also my last day of scoring. I will probably be gone by the time anyone reads this…_ _Yeah, cooped up in a motel room or curled up on the ground somewhere remote._ _So I will say this only once._

 _Goodbye_ _suckers!_

 **I couldn't figure out how to format this chapter, so it turned out to just be a bunch of journal entries :P**


	8. Chapter 6

Snapping her notebook shut, Ronnie gathered up her backpack and spear and squeezed out of the small opening in the rock. After making sure the coast was clear, she quickly made her way over to the docks. She slipped underneath them, placing her backpack on her head to keep it from getting wet. And hour passed by before the boat could be seen chugging toward the island, getting bigger and bigger until it floated right alongside the dock.

As stealthily as she could, Ronnie reached up and swung herself onto the deck, landing crouched down. Ronnie knocked on the cabin door and the orange-haired woman she had seen before opened it up and let her in while walking out of the cabin herself. The captain was sitting inside, chin in his palm. Barely sparing Ronnie a glance, he let out a sigh through his nose at her soaking wet clothes.

Nine. Out of the four hundred four applicants at the beginning, only nine had made it this far. They were all currently aboard the Chairman's airship once again, and Ronnie had to sneak around the crowd once again to get in without being noticed. Eventually, she extracted herself out from behind a rather bushy potted plant and made her way to the lounge, where the Chairman and the other examiners would be meeting.

Opening the door, she spotted all of the examiners and Chairman Netero, all of whom sat on the couches around the coffee table. Ronnie detached her spear from her back, tossed it and her backpack to the side, and collapsed onto one of the couches, closing her eyes.

"Well? How many have passed Phase Four, Miss Ronnie?" asked the Chairman. Ronnie held up both hands, showing nine fingers.

"Nine, eh? How many of them are new to the Exam."

"Six, I think." Chairman Netero began to laugh.

"Six of the nine are rookies? Marvelous, marvelous." Buhara, who sat across from Ronnie, raised a meatball on his fork up to his mouth.

"Has this ever happened before?" he asked, before eating the meatball.

"Hmm, there's a trend where we'll go many years without a single rookie qualifying. Then suddenly, we'll have a whole bunch of promising newbies. This is the fourth time I've seen it happen." Said Netero, smiling contentedly. Ronnie opened up her eyes and leaned forward, taking a good look at all of the food on the table. Plucking a dumpling from one of the platters, she sniffed it briefly, and then promptly stuffed it all into her mouth at once. Every occupant of the room turned to look at her, to which she replied with a deadpan expression.

"By the way," started Satotz. "what are we doing for the Final Phase?"

"Oh, right." Said Buhara, swallowing the last meatball on his plate. "You haven't told us yet."

"Yes, about that…" smiled the Chairman. "I intend to have them participate in a rather peculiar fight."

"Hmm? A rather peculiar fight?" asked Satotz, putting down his plate. Ronnie swallowed her mouthful of dumpling with some difficulty.

"What do you mean by that? 'A rather peculiar fight,'" she said, mimicking his voice. "Just what the hell are you smoking, old man?"

"First, I want to talk to each of the nine remaining applicants. Afterwards, that is when Ronnie's scoring will come into play. Ronnie, if you will hand over the booklet you were given at the start of the Exam?" Netero held out a wizened hand, and Ronnie sighed, picking up her backpack and digging through it before stuffing the now doodle-covered scoring booklet at him. The Chairman flipped through it, raising an eyebrow at all of the tic-tac-toe games decorating the pages. When he finished, he smiled at Ronnie.

"Not bad work for someone I practically had to force to take this job." Ronnie gave the old man a sour look, which he openly laughed at.

Ronnie had left shortly after Beans had called up the first applicant to be interviewed. She clasped her hands behind her head and began to walk aimlessly down the corridor, free from having to sneak around at last. Whistling a short made-up tune, Ronnie decided to look out at the clouds outside the window. _Ahh… they look so soft and cottony… it really is too bad I'd fall right through them._ Yawning, she paid little attention to the three applicants leaning against the wall and instead made her way over to one of the guest rooms. She took a peek inside, and after finding it unoccupied, she walked in and locked the door.

The ash blonde stretched languidly and pulled a portion of her tank top up to her face to sniff. _Oh… that's getting pretty ripe… when was the last time I took a bath?_ Scratching her chin, she struggled to remember. She could vaguely remember about two weeks ago taking a bath at the motel she was staying in on her latest travels. _I was busy… I had brats to look after all this time._ She thought, knowing full well that some of those 'brats' were probably older than her.

Ronnie extracted her feet from her boots, tossing them to the other side of the room before traipsing over to the bathroom and peeling off her clothes, dropping them onto the floor and turning on the hot water tap in the bathtub. It filled up gradually. Stepping into the water, she sighed at the warmth, feeling the tension wash away. Untying her hair from its ponytail, Ronnie flicked the hairband onto the counter before wetting her tresses and beginning to scrub shampoo into her scalp.

Steam billowed from the bathroom as the door opened, and out stepped Ronnie in a fluffy white bathrobe. Her clothes could be seen drying on the shower curtain rod, having been recently washed. She yawned and checked the clock on the nightstand. 3 pm. Quite early for one who had just gotten out of the bath. Ronnie shrugged and sat on the bed, deciding to grab her bag and take out a notebook at random. She opened it up and began to read, crossing one leg over the other.

The hairdryer was making quite a lot of racket as Ronnie held it up to her clothes, eyebrows furrowed. Turning it off, she picked up her tank top and felt it. It was still just a little damp. Her eyes narrowed. That wouldn't do. She turned the hairdryer on again, focusing on that one spot on her pants that just wouldn't dry off. Ronnie had to be at a meeting in fifteen minutes, and her clothes had almost dried. _Another minute should do it…_ Putting down the hairdryer, she felt her clothes again and nodded. _Good enough._ She pulled them on, leaving the bathrobe in a heap on the floor and pulling on her boots, gathering up her pack and spear and opening up the door. The hallway was empty. She made her way over to the lounge and opened up the door, tying up her ponytail as she entered. As always, everyone was already there. Everyone except for the Chairman, at least.

Ronnie sat down on one of the couches again putting her elbow on her knee and her chin in her hand. The door creaked open and in walked Chairman Netero, holding what looked to be a whiteboard.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," he said cheerily. "I've drawn up the bracket."

"Pardon?" said Menchi, voicing what everyone else had been thinking.

"What is this?" asked Satotz. Lippo, who Ronnie had sat herself beside, leaned forward in his seat. With wide eyes, Buhara stared at the whiteboard the Chairman was holding up. Ronnie decided to take a look herself, and her eyes widened at what she saw.

"What the hell is that?"

"Are you serious about this?" asked Buhara, eyes still glued to the whiteboard. Netero chuckled, a smug grin on his bearded face.

"Dead serious." Ronnie fell back into the couch cushions, clutching her head. _I know that I've questioned his sanity before, but it's not really a question anymore._

"He certainly has a serious expression on his face…" said Satotz, squinting at the Chairman. Menchi, who sat beside him, gave him an incredulous look.

"That's a serious expression?"

"Winning will make them Hunters." stated Netero. Ronnie was still collapsed on the couch, lamenting his loss of marbles.

The next day, the airship arrived at the destination for the Final Phase; a hotel somewhere in the mountains. A tournament would be held there, which would determine who would pass and who would fail.

Ronnie did not have to sneak around anymore, but she stayed in her room until landing anyway, examining the samples of various texts scattered around her on the floor. Most of them were rubbings taken off of stone, and she was now copying the symbols by hand onto clean sheets of paper to be read more easily. A shudder rumbled through the airship and Ronnie looked around. _Are we there already?_ She gathered up her papers, carefully putting them back into the correct order before fixing them in a folder and in turn shoving that into her bag. It took around fifteen minutes to pick up the rest of her scattered belongings. Finally picking up her spear, Ronnie exited her room and walked down the hallway, quickly finding the exit to the aircraft and opening it.

Birds chirped in the trees and sunshine warmed Ronnie's skin as she entered the hotel, jogging over to where Chairman Netero had said the Final Exam would take place. She could hear voices coming from within even before she entered.

"…This bracket was assembled based on your performances throughout the entire exam. Those who performed better received more chances." Obviously Chairman Netero. Ronnie thought back with some smugness to her questionable scoring technique.

"That doesn't sound right," said a young voice. Ronnie pressed her ear to the door to hear a bit more clearly. "Can you explain how you scored our performances?" Silence. Then…

"NOOOOOO!" yelled Netero, making Ronnie jump.

"Why not?" asked the young voice. The Chairman chuckled.

"Your scores are classified information. Even I don't even know exactly how you were scored." Ronnie grinned. _This is a good time to butt in._ Raising her foot in the air, she kicked the door open and strolled in, hands in her pockets and a grin on her face.

"So sorry I'm late, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take a rather long detour." The Chairman smiled at her as she crossed over to a bench against the wall. The remaining nine applicants were still looking at her, some in confusion, others in suspicion, and #44 with… Ronnie shuddered, scratching her chin at his strange and creepy gaze. She sighed when the Chairman cleared his throat to get their attention once more.

"As I was saying, not even I know exactly how you were scored," he shot a pointed look at Ronnie and she crossed her arms, looking away. "But I can explain our basic methods. First, we consider three major criteria: physical strength, mental strength, and overall impression." Ronnie could remember this from the briefing that Chairman Netero had given her before the exam, and while her scoring method was certainly questionable, she had indeed followed the basic guidelines stated in the beginning of the booklet. Netero continued to speak.

"For physical strength, we use an aggregate of agility, flexibility, endurance, and perception. For mental strength, we use an aggregate of resilience, adaptability, judgment, and creativity. However, this information is only used as a reference point. After all, you were strong enough to advance to the Final Phase." He said. "However, we are most concerned with your overall impression. This refers to any intangible factors not previously mentioned. You should consider this an evaluation of your potential as a Hunter. And we also incorporate the opinions of your peers. That was our process." Ronnie thought back to all the times she had taken off points just because she didn't like someone... _Umm… maybe I got just a tad bit carried away…_

 **Ronnie's not very good at following orders, eh?**


	9. Chapter 7

"The battle rules are quite simple," announced Netero. "Weapons are allowed. No cheating. If your opponent admits defeat, you win. However! If you kill your opponent, you will be immediately disqualified. All remaining applicants will pass, and the exam will end. Are we clear?" the applicants remained silent. Another voice echoed in the large room.

"Then, we shall begin the exam's Final Phase." Ronnie looked at the board again. #294 versus #405.

She turned back to the acting referee after staring at the board, not really comprehending what had just been said.

"Please step forward." Green Boy and Bald Ninja Guy (Ronnie's nickname for #294) both stepped forward. Everyone else lined up against the wall. Ronnie leaned back in her seat, tapping her foot impatiently. Tuning out, she ignored what was going on on the makeshift battlefield. Idly doodling in her notebook, she only jumped as a crack echoed through the room. She looked over to see Green Boy on the floor and clutching his arm. Bald Ninja Guy had clearly just broken it. Putting down her notebook and pencil, she watched with mild interest at the scene playing out before her. Why was she being so insensitive, you ask? Well, she isn't really close to these people, and therefore does not feel their pain. _Although that does look painful._ Ronnie commented mentally, wincing at the thought.

"I'm sure you're in too much pain to listen, but hear me out," said Bald Ninja Guy. He bent over and lifted himself into a one-armed handstand next to Green Boy, who was still trembling on the ground. "I am descended from the shinobi, a clan of covert agents. From the day I was born, I was forced to endure harsh training in order to master the art of ninpo." Ronnie rolled her eyes. _Oh come on, I'm sure most of us have been through some kind of tortured past._ She thought back to her own. Every time she thought of the moment she had asked her mentor if he would teach her how to fight, she shuddered. _I now hate pineapples because of that bum. That atrocious hairdo…_ Ronnie then tilted her head. _But I guess it all paid off in the end._ When she turned back to the fight, Bald Ninja Guy was still talking.

"…By the time I was your age, I had already killed a man. At this point in time, you cannot defeat me in combat. I'm trying to be nice." Bald Ninja Guy had his eyes closed, so unfortunately for him, he couldn't see Green Boy getting up and facing him. "Admit defeat-" a green booted foot collided hard with his nose, and the bald ninja flew backward. Green Boy collapsed on the ground again.

"Ouch…" Green Boy squeaked, still clutching his arm. "Damn it!" he sat up fully, making an angry face at the ninja. "My head's cleared a bit, after all the pain and that long explanation." Ronnie started chuckling.

"YES!" shouted one of the other applicants. "Go! Kick him while he's down!" Ronnie snorted loudly and covered her mouth, giggling.

"If you're eighteen, you're only six years older than I am. Besides, this isn't a battle to see who's stronger. It's to see who's willing to surrender first." Bald Ninja Guy got to his feet, blood flowing down from his nose, and said with a completely straight face;

"I let you kick me on purpose."

"LIAR!" shouted whom Ronnie had identified as Glasses, the guy in the suit.

"Be a man and admit he caught you off guard, you pansy!" Ronnie shouted. Bald Ninja Guy just wiped the blood from his face.

"You don't understand… This isn't a warning. It's an ultimatum. Was it too hard for you to understand? Then I'll make it easier for you," he withdrew a hidden blade from his sleeve, and even from against the wall, Ronnie could tell that it was wickedly sharp. "I'll cut off your legs, so they can't be reattached. A permanent injury should help to wake you up. But first, I'll ask you once more. Surrender." Silence was the only thing present as everyone watched the two gazing into each other's eyes, neither of them willing to back down.

"I won't accept that!" shouted Green Boy, making everyone pull identical blank faces. "I don't want my legs cut off, but I don't want to surrender. So let's find a different way to fight!" Ronnie was struggling to keep in her giggles, watching as the ninja fumed in front of his twelve year old opponent.

"Hey… Do you understand your own situation?!" Finally, Ronnie let forth a loud guffaw and a snort, eventually leading into a series of uncontrollable giggles. Out of tear filled eyes, she could see some of the other applicants chuckling or smiling.

"You don't get to make demands!" shouted the ninja, pointing his blade at Green Boy. "Are you trying to insult me?! I'm seriously gonna cut off your legs!" As Ronnie looked up from her fit of mirth, she could see a determined look on Green Boy's face. She furrowed her eyebrows. _Have I met this boy before the exam?_

"I will still not surrender," said Green Boy. "Besides, if you do that, I'll bleed to death. You'll be disqualified if that happens, right?" he looked over to the man acting as referee.

"Oh… yes." Answered Mr. Referee.

"See? Neither of us wants that to happen. So let's think of a better way."

Bald Ninja Guy's face was showing an expression of utter frustration. _Well, if I were in that position, I think I would've already imploded from indecision…_ thought Ronnie. The atmosphere in the room had lightened considerably, and everyone standing against the wall seemed to have relaxed.

Suddenly, Bald Ninja Guy lunged forward, placing the tip of his blade right at Green Boy's forehead. Almost immediately, everyone stopped giggling, their faces dropping into more serious expressions.

"You really don't get it… If you die, you'll never get another chance. If I kill you here, I need only try again next year. We are not on equal footing!" the tip of the ninja's blade had caused Green Boy's forehead to bleed, making blood run down his face. However, Green Boy stayed perfectly still. _Stubborn brat…_ thought Ronnie. Not a second later, she groaned and put her head in her hands. _That sounded just like_ him _dammit! I must be getting old… even though I'm only twenty-two…_

Thirty tense seconds passed, and no one made a single move.

"Why won't you concede? It's easy to do. You can try again next year…" grumbled the ninja. "You value your pride more than your own life?!" he shouted, sounding a little hysterical. "You're really willing to die for your pride?!"

Green Boy stayed silent. _This is like some crappy book…_ thought Ronnie, wondering if there was a popcorn machine anywhere nearby. Her head turned to Green Boy once more as he spoke.

"I'm going to find my dad." _His… dad…?_ Ronnie scratched her chin in thought. _He wants… to find… his dad…_ Her stomach began to feel a little constricted and she didn't know why. _Why do I have such an uneasy feeling…?_

"Your dad?" asked the ninja, looking a little surprised.

"My dad is a Hunter. So I'm going to become a Hunter and find him!" stated Green Boy, still holding his ground with the blade at his forehead. "I believe that I'll find him one day… but I have a feeling that if I give up now, I'll never find him! So I won't surrender."

"If you don't yield, you'll die…" Bald Ninja Guy's resolve seemed to be crumbling. Ronnie shifted in her seat. _Ugh… this is getting boring…_

The ninja removed the blade from the boy's forehead and faced the referee.

"I give up. You win," He said, slipping the blade back into his sleeve. "I can't kill you. But I can't think of a way to make you surrender. I'll take this loss and take my chances in the next battle!" Green Boy looked cheated.

"I can't accept that. That's not fair!" he shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at Bald Ninja Guy. "We both have to think of a way to settle this fight!" a vein appeared on the ninja's temple.

"Heh, I knew you would say that. You fool! There's no point, because you'll never surrender!"

"But I don't want to win like this!"

"What am I supposed to do?!"

"We can work together to figure it out!" the giggles were starting to tickle Ronnie's ribcage once again and she suppressed them, shoulders shaking. The ninja stood up to his full height before the twelve year old boy, eyebrow twitching.

"In other words, I've already given up on this match, but you want me to try to win again, while helping to determine a way to make you feel good about your victory! Is that right?"

"Yes!" confirmed the boy, a bright smile lighting up his features. _This boy… this selfish little brat…_ Ronnie mentally grumbled, a disbelieving expression on her face. Bald Ninja Guy acted upon her thoughts almost immediately, giving the boy a vicious uppercut.

"You moron!" Green Boy bounced a couple times before lying still and unconscious on the floor. The ninja turned to the referee.

"Hey, ref. I lose. Let's move on to the next match."

"Understood."

Ronnie tuned out the rest of the conversation, yawning widely.

"Ronnie?" called a voice, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked up, facing Chairman Netero.

"If you would kindly take him to one of the rooms, he needs to get patched up." She nodded, standing up and hoisting the boy onto her back. Making her way over to the door, she nudged it open with her foot and continued down the hall, making her way toward the closest room she could find.

The boy's wounds had been treated, and now he was lying peacefully in bed, his arm in a sling and a band-aid on his forehead. Ronnie was sitting cross-legged on a chair by the window, engrossed in what looked to be a short novel. Satotz sat by the other side of the bed, nearest the door. Ronnie jumped when the boy on the bed suddenly shot up into a sitting position, panting heavily. Satotz closed the book he had been reading, turning to face the boy.

"You're awake?"

"Where am I?" asked Green Boy, not noticing Ronnie as she idly turned a page, blinking slowly.

"A waiting room, next to the arena for the Final Phase." Green Boy jumped and turned to look at Ronnie, who had turned another page with a bit more strength than was necessary, a loud flapping noise accompanying the action.

"Yeah, I had to carry your ass in here. What the hell do you eat for breakfast, bowling ball butt?" the kid just blinked at the crude language pattern she had used. She sighed, closing her book and tossing it onto the bedside table as Satotz scooted his seat closer to the side of the bed.

"Right. I was in the middle of the Hunter Exam." Said the boy, looking down at the blanket over his legs.

"Your arm will heal quickly," said Satotz. "The break was very clean. In fact, once it heals, the bone will be stronger than before. In any case, congratulations on passing the exam." Ronnie let out a titter at Satotz's words, and he gave her a wry look. She put up both hands in an 'I surrender' gesture. Satotz held out his hand for Green Boy to shake.

"Satotz… I…"

"You can't. Just as someone who has failed the exam can no longer pass, someone who has passed the exam can no longer fail," Satotz said, looking the boy straight in the eye. "The rest is up to you. If you feel you are unqualified to be a pro, you are free to destroy or put away your license. You can even sell it, since no one else will be able to use it. However, a person who has passed the exam will not be allowed to take it again." Ronnie rested her chin in her palm and stared out the window as Satotz continued his explanation.

"Professional Hunters are treated well, largely due to our predecessors' efforts. Hence, there are many applicants who harbor ill intentions. If it weren't for them, we would accept every person who applied," Satotz handed the boy a folder, and once he opened it, his Hunter license was revealed to be inside. "Most professional Hunters consider this card more valuable than their own lives, yet no more than a worthless scrap of paper at the same time. The important thing is what you accomplish once you become a Hunter."

"What I accomplish…"

"It could be anything of notable importance, really," said Ronnie, crossing one leg over the other. "Catching wanted criminals, doing large ecological surveys, finding treasure… you name it." The boy watched as she got up and stretched, hearing a few pops from her back. She turned to Satotz.

"I'm not technically supposed to leave until the briefing for the rookies is over, so I'll be around if anyone needs anything." Satotz nodded and Ronnie exited the room. She wandered around the halls a bit before discovering a door that led to a courtyard. Trees shielded her from the sun, and a few benches were placed here and there against them. Ronnie flopped down onto one of them, relishing in the perfect temperature of the breeze and just the right amount of sun peeking through the leaves.

Meanwhile, half an hour later, Green Boy was sitting next to Satotz on one of the courtyard's benches, only a little ways away from where Ronnie was currently snoozing.

"Forgive me, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. I happen to specialize in the discovery, restoration, and preservation of ancient ruins. When I first began, I was only focused on the glory derived from new discoveries. But after watching a certain Hunter at work, I came to feel ashamed," said Satotz, looking down at his clasped hands. "That Hunter would discover ruins, spend his own money to completely restore them, and take steps to preserve the ruins for future generations, thus ensuring that ordinary people would have a chance to see them. I was more impressed by his dedication to his job than by the beauty of the ruins. The work he did to preserve those ruins has been documented in manuals used around the world. And this Hunter, Gon, was Ging Freecss, the man you were asking about."

Gon's face lit up in a smile, eyes shining. Satotz continued his story, looking over at the twelve year old with smiling eyes.

"I wished to meet him, so I did some investigating. However, quite frankly, he is an enigma. I wasn't able to learn anything about him…"

"Really? Figures." Said Gon, still smiling.

"My goal is to become a Hunter like him. My dream is to thank him in person one day." Gon nodded and began to get up, but Satotz called him to wait.

"Even though you've heard at least a little more about Ging, I'm really not the person you should speak to if you want information." Gon tilted his head, confused. Satotz continued when the boy stayed silent.

"While I was trying to find some sliver of information on him, I came across one of his students. Apparently, he had taken her on as a disciple when she was very young." He said, and Gon's eyes widened. "Her name is Veronica Penn. If you're looking for any leads, she's probably the first you should contact." By now, the boy's eyes were shining with determination. "That is all I have to say. Sorry for interrupting your previous conversation." Gon shook his head.

"It's okay. Thanks for everything, Satotz. Bye!" Gon began to jog away, but Satotz called out to wait.

"Oh… Gon…"

"Hm?"

"Oh, never mind. Take care of yourself."

"Yeah. You, too. Bye!" Gon ran back to his friends, the ones Ronnie had dubbed Blondie and Glasses.

Satotz watched the retreating form of Gon Freecss disappear into the lobby and looked over at the sleeping woman on one of the stone benches.

 _Perhaps I should have mentioned that she was right over there…_

 **A/N: Hark! Another chapter!**


	10. Chapter 8

Roughly three months had passed since Gon had been told of 'Veronica Penn.' After passing the exam and getting his license, he and two of his friends, Leorio (whom Ronnie had called 'Glasses') and Kurapika (the boy Ronnie had referred to as 'Blondie') journeyed to Kukuroo Mountain, with the goal of rescuing their other friend, Killua (the white haired boy) from his family after failing the Exam. Now however, Gon, Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika have all gone their separate ways. Gon and Killua stood side by side as they watched their other friends leave, smiling slightly.

They were now discussing their money issue.

"Gon, do you have any money?"

"Actually, I'm running out." Said Gon, a sheepish expression on his face.

"I don't have much either. But there's somewhere we can train and earn money at the same time." Said the white-haired boy, his eyes holding a little spark.

"Train and earn money?" Killua lifted a finger.

"The Heavens Arena."

"Heavens Arena…"

"Yeah, I'll explain later. We should get moving." Said Killua, turning around and starting to walk. A thought suddenly flashed across Gon's mind.

"Wait a second! There's something I have to do first…"

Ten minutes later, Gon and Killua were sitting next to a computer booth at a public library.

"What are we looking up?" asked Killua, leaning in to get a better view of the computer screen.

"Right before I left the hotel where the Final Phase was held, I talked with Satotz a little bit about my dad. He said that if I was looking for any leads, I should contact 'Veronica Penn.'" Gon replied, typing the name into the search engine. All that came up were books.

"You can't just type a random name into a search engine; we have to be specific." Gon made an 'oh' of realization, and then tilted his head in confusion.

"Specific?" Killua groaned and dragged a hand down his face.

"Yeah, you'll have to put in the occupation. According to Satotz, she's a Hunter, right?"

A minute later, Gon typed 'Veronica Penn Hunter' into the search bar, and a few results popped up on the screen. At the very top, a url to a social media site popped up, and upon clicking on it, a profile was shown with the name they had searched and a picture of a slice of pie. Gon clicked on it, and several journal updates appeared on screen. Next to her name, there was a label that displayed '1407 followers.'

As Gon scrolled through the entries, Killua quickly found that they were nothing of interest.

"I guess we won't get anything out of this… Although it does look like she's a published author. I'll make some calls to find out how to get in touch."

"Yeah… Uh huh… Alright. Thanks." Said Killua, scribbling something down on a piece of scrap paper. Putting the phone back on the receiver, he turned to Gon and waved the paper in the air triumphantly.

"I talked to one of the secretaries at the publishing company she uses; I've got Veronica Penn's phone number!" a wide smile split across Gon's features before vanishing into a thoughtful look.

"How did you convince them to give you her number?" he asked. Killua put a finger to his lips, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"Secret…~ Now let's make that call!" Killua and Gon turned back to the phone, and the black haired boy fished a few coins out of his pocket. Sliding them into the slot, he then dialed the number and waited. The phone rang. And rang. And rang.

Ronnie was currently sitting on the bed in a hotel room, scribbling in her notebook with her back to the headboard. She examined the strange symbols on one of her reference pages, chewing on the end of her pencil. Suddenly, her phone started to buzz with an incoming call. Without looking, her hand felt around under the covers before finally locating the annoying device. She looked at the screen. An unknown phone number was displayed there. Weighing the chances of the call being another stupid survey or advertisement, she waited a little before finally making her decision. Tapping the receive button, she held it up to her ear.

"Hello…?" she asked. Some shuffling was heard on the other end before an excited voice made itself known. It sounded much like a young boy.

 _"Hello! Is this Veronica Penn?"_

"Yes…" she replied, grimacing at her given name. Her eyes narrowed. "How did you get this number?"

"We called the publishing company you use and asked how we could get in touch with you." Ronnie's eyebrow twitched.

"Listen kid, you'd better have a damn good reason for getting a hold of my number. What do you want?" she asked, irritated.

"Were you once a student of a Hunter named Ging Freecss?"

"Yeah. Get to the point or I'm hanging up now."

"I'm his son, Gon Freecss, and I want to find my dad." Ronnie's face went blank. Ten seconds of silence was the only thing over the telephone line.

 _"…Hello? Are you… still there?"_ Ronnie shook her head to clear it.

"Give me a time and a place. I'll meet you there."

"Wha- really?! That would be great! We're heading over to the Heaven's Arena in a couple days, so I guess we can meet you at the East City airport in the Republic of Padokea!"

"Yeah… see ya." Ronnie hung up and put down the phone. _Talk about a blast from the past…_

Looking around at the dense crowd of people, Ronnie rubbed her upper arms, feeling very uncomfortable. At the current moment, she was waiting at the entrance to the airport. When she had traced the public phone's location after the call ended, she found that it was in the Republic of Padokea, and Ronnie had searched up the arrival times for flights going into the city. Being unable to pinpoint the exact time and gate Gon would arrive, Ronnie had simply decided to wait just inside the entrance to the airport. She watched an old man dig around in his ear for a bit, feeling bored. _Kid could've told me when he was getting here…_ she thought, tapping her foot. Suddenly, a voice was broadcast over the intercom.

 _"Would Veronica Penn please come to desk number 4; Veronica Penn."_ Ronnie cringed at being called out, but began to trudge in the general direction of the desk. _It would make sense to find me like that; we have no idea what the other looks like._ She approached the desk, giving her full name with a little reluctance. The woman behind it pointed to a row of chairs, and Ronnie looked around to see Green Boy and the white haired kid from the exam. Ronnie thanked the woman and approached them. They were chatting excitedly with one another. She stopped directly in front of them and cleared her throat loudly.

"I should've known; I knew you looked familiar…" Ronnie said, making the boys look around simultaneously.

"Wha- _you're_ Veronica Penn?! You were the weird lady at the Final Phase of the exam!" exclaimed the white-haired boy in incredulity. Ronnie smacked a hand over his mouth.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't call me that; I prefer Ronnie. Now…" she turned to Green Boy.

"I feel so stupid for not realizing sooner; I knew you looked familiar…" removing her hand from the other boy's mouth, Ronnie extended it toward the one in green. He grinned and shook it.

"It's nice to properly meet you! The last time I saw you, it was during the exam." Ronnie nodded, crossing her arms.

"Yep. Anyway, I heard you say something over the phone about Heavens Arena; what's up with that?"

"We need money. I just spent the last of mine on the trip here." Said the white haired boy. Ronnie raised an eyebrow and turned to Gon.

"But you're a Hunter now, aren't you? You don't really need to worry much about money…" Gon shook his head, a determined gleam in his eyes.

"I made a promise to myself that I would not use my license until I could punch this one person in the face. Only then can I call myself a true Hunter." Blinking at the black haired boy, Ronnie's shoulders slumped in disbelief. _So he's one of those… I can never understand that._ She decided to change the subject.

"And you are?" she asked, turning to the white haired boy.

"Killua." He replied shortly, shaking her hand. Ronnie shoved her hands in her pockets and turned back to the entrance of the airport.

"We should probably get out of here if we want to talk more. I know a place we can settle down."

Ronnie sat herself down on a park bench, crossing one leg over the other and gesturing for the two boys to sit down as well. They sat, and after a short awkward silence, Ronnie spoke.

"So. What do you want to know?" Gon immediately began to jabber away excitedly so fast that Ronnie had difficulty keeping up. Holding up a hand, she cut him off.

"Woah, woah, slow down there, kid. One at a time." Gon nodded. The woman put her hand down, and he started to speak again.

"Have you… seen Ging recently?" he asked. Ronnie let out a bark of laughter that had several birds flap out of the trees and a few passersby looking around at her.

"What's so funny?" asked Killua, eyeing Ronnie as she calmed down to a few hiccups every now and then.

"So sorry… _seen_ Ging? I may be his student- well, former student- but I haven't seen him in around ten years, so if you're coming to me for clues as to where to track him down, I'm no help to you." Gon's face fell.

"So this was just a dead end…" he whispered, looking down at his knees. Ronnie looked at him out of the corner of her eye, thinking that perhaps she ought to give some words of encouragement…

"Yep. This was a complete waste of your time." She said, wearing a small grin and leaning back in her seat. Killua leapt up from the bench.

"Well you don't have to go and rub it in like that! Who the hell do you think you are?!" she raised an eyebrow.

"What, you expected me to be some pushover? I know who I am; I'm a part-time asshole, while you appear to be a full-time brat." Killua growled at the woman, finding the smile on her face making it so much harder not to punch her lights out. Ronnie looked over at Gon, who had his eyebrows furrowed and an expression of thoughtfulness on his face. She sighed, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Y'know… now that I think about it… last time I saw Ging, I didn't get the chance to properly kick his ass for abandoning me in the woods…" Gon looked up. Ronnie gave him a meaningful look, but the boy didn't seem to catch on. Killua had stopped seething and raised an eyebrow. After a few seconds of silence, Ronnie let out a sigh.

"I'm saying that since you guys are looking for Ging and up until recently I haven't given that bum a second thought… perhaps we could travel together and accomplish our corresponding goals. What do you say?" she asked, keeping a small friendly smile on her face while giggling evilly on the inside. _That way I don't have to work so hard tracking him down on my own._

At her words, Gon's face split into a wide grin while Killua gave her an apprehensive look.

"That would be awesome!" exclaimed Gon, eyes shining. "What do you think, Killua?" Killua huffed.

"Fine, I guess…" Ronnie's smile widened into a grin.

"Well then, boys, it's nice to be a part of your group," She said, standing up. "Now didn't you say you were going to Heavens Arena?"

Now approaching Heavens Arena with the boys, Ronnie tilted her head back to appreciate just how huge the building was. At two hundred and fifty-one stories (nine hundred ninety-one meters) high, it was one of the tallest buildings in the world. As Gon, Killua and Ronnie neared the entrance to the massive structure, they all noticed just how long the line to get in was. They stepped into place at the very end, and Ronnie shifted from one foot to the other in impatience.

"There's a really long line. Everyone's going to Heavens Arena?" asked Gon, looking at all of the people standing in line. Killua nodded.

"There aren't any conditions here, like there were for the Hunter Exam. You just have to defeat your opponent," Explained Killua, smiling. Gon made an 'oh' of understanding, and the other boy kept speaking. "The higher you go, the more prize money you earn. This is as good as it gets for those looking to make a living with their fists." Ronnie scoffed at his words.

"That's the easy way out for making money, kid. You could be doing something more useful than beating people up for other's entertainment." Killua's eyebrow twitched.

"Did you not hear us earlier when we said that we needed to train?" Ronnie shrugged.

"There are other ways to go about this. But I suppose this way'll give you some experience. Just keep this in mind," she said, bending down a little to his level. "Since there aren't any conditions here, it's possible you could get permanently damaged, or even killed. If you have any overconfidence in your abilities, I recommend you stop thinking about what _you_ can do, and in stead focus on what your opponent's abilities are. Could save your life one day." Ronnie straightened up, stepping forward as the line shifted ahead. She could feel Killua burning a hole in the side of her head as he glowered at her. Gon on the other hand, was smiling brightly at her indifferent expression.

"I don't think you're as mean as you say you are, Ronnie." Looking at the boy out of the corner of her eye, the ash blonde let out a titter.

"I just don't want my new adventure ruined by two little kids getting themselves crushed in the basic equivalent of a gladiator fight. It'd weigh on my conscience for at most twelve hours." It was true, too. Ronnie didn't know these kids well enough to have any sort of empathy for them, not even Gon. She had never truly cared deeply about anyone for quite a while, and she had found that path to be the one with the least pain in it. _After all, I'm just using these kids to finally kick Ging's ass once and for all. Curse all those detours and distractions…_

 **A/N: Well hello there. I understand that its been a while. I have the terrible habit of dropping things that I'm writing to start up something new... but then I realized that I have a bunch of stockpiled chapters and just thought 'What the hell, might as well'. So here's another one. Hope you enjoyed, and have a nice day/night!**


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